Floyd Mayweather: Adrien Broner is a great young guy, but has a lot to learn

Adrien Broner has been constantly compared to Floyd Mayweather during his young career -- often by choice, even when he says he doesn't want the comparison -- and the two fighters are known to be close outside of the ring, referring to each other as big and little brother.

Mayweather says that Broner is being brought along slowly and carefully, and that he does have a lot to learn yet:

"With Broner, I think they're moving him slow. They're taking their time. They know what opponents to choose for him. But that was a great victory for him against Malignaggi. But Malignaggi, he's a hell of a boxer. I like Broner. That's my little brother. I like Broner, a young champion on the rise. ... Broner's a great young guy. He has a lot to learn. He has a lot to learn, but he's a great young kid. I'm a veteran. I've been around the sport 17 years, dominating."

This is why I think there's a chance that eventually, the Floyd-Broner relationship blows up. For better or worse, Mayweather's ego is such that I think you can see him clearly cracking at moments when Broner is compared to him. When Broner beat Paulie Malignaggi, Floyd said that AB should have gotten the knockout. He also referenced his win at 21 over Genaro Hernandez, noting that Broner is 23. He kind of framed this in a good way -- "Broner is young, lots of time," etc. -- but there was that backhanded nature to the comment. "Yeah, he's good and all, but come on, I was better, and I'm still better."

And sure, that's true. It really is, at least in my view. But it just hints at the sort of mindset that Mayweather is always going to have, and I don't mean that as any shot at Floyd. He's extremely competitive, as most great athletes are. When he hears the Broner comparison, there has to be that part of him that thinks, "Shit, I'm better than that kid."

When Broner matures more, and feels he's ready to take the throne (if he gets to that sort of point), if Floyd is still around sitting on the throne, I'm just saying don't be surprised if the two of them wind up in the ring, despite their current friendship.